Women ministers in Modi’s Cabinet script new record

New Delhi: In a country where the cause of equal representation of women in Parliament is a much-discussed issue, the newly formed government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi comes out with a pretty interesting picture.

Among them, Smriti Irani, Nirmala Sitharaman and Harsimrat Kaur have become Union Ministers for the first time. Smriti, who contested against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi from Amethi Lok Sabha constituency lost the elections but has been rewarded with key position in the Union Cabinet.

The story is similar to a certain extent for Harsimrat Kaur and Nirmala Sitharaman as well. Sitharaman, a popular spokesperson of BJP, appears on news channels mainly during debates and panel discussions. She has been gifted with a Cabinet berth as she very uprightly puts forward the views of the BJP before the media.

In fact, it has been learnt that Sitharaman was not even aware of her position in Modi-led government at the Centre and was informed about her Cabinet position only on Monday.

Sushma Swaraj, Uma Bharti and Maneka Gandhi were ministers in former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s Cabinet during the previous tenure of BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre.